Ultimately, Erling Haaland would have been delighted to have witnessed John Stones’ header fly past Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa and hand Manchester City a crucial victory.
Manchester City have already dropped points against Arsenal and Newcastle United this season.
For Pep Guardiola’s men to do have done so again would have been an indicator that they are well and truly struggling in Rodri’s absence.
But instead, City displayed the ultimate sign of champions by beating Wolves in a contest where they perhaps did not play their best football to say the least.
In Josko Gvardiol and Stones, City’s latest triumph also emphasised the importance of having unlikely goalscorers who can chip in when the chips are down for the Premier League winners.
Haaland, however has now failed to score a single goal since scoring the opener against Arsenal in September.
- READ MORE: Man City player ratings as John Stones saves the day vs Wolves and Erling Haaland gets a 5/10
Haaland will be raging at his lack of touches after Man City vs Wolves
In eight Premier League games so far, the Norwegian has scored an impressive 10 goals.
But after his strike against Arsenal, the 24-year-old would have been hoping to go from strength to strength.
Instead, Newcastle, Fulham and now Wolves have managed to keep the Leeds-born striker quiet.
Gary O’Neil seemed to have instructed his back four to stay in close proximity to the two-time Premier League winner to prevent him from getting any space to exploit inside the box.
Pep Guardiola could potentially have a cause for concern about why arguably the best goalscorer on the planet is undergoing a slight goal drought.
According to ESPN UK on X, Haaland took a mere 13 touches against Wolves — the least he has ever done while playing 90 minutes of a Premier League game during his time at the Etihad Stadium.
Other statistics emerged from the former Borussia Dortmund phenomenon’s performance — including him taking zero shots, executing no successful dribbles, taking only four touches in the opposition box and winning zero duels as well.
Man City attacking stats vs Wolves that explain quiet Erling Haaland display
Haaland was not particularly helped by his Manchester City teammates.
The visitors probed time and again but it seemed like they were begging for a moment of magic to score a goal.
Gvardiol provided one with a stunner of an equaliser and so did Stones with a wonderful winner.
But largely, City’s attack was rather blunt on the day. Here is a list of Manchester City’s attacking stats against Wolves.
| HAALAND’S STATS VS WOLVES | |
| xG (Expected Goals) | 1.71 |
| Possession | 78% |
| Shots on target | 8 |
| Total shots | 22 |
| Big chances created | 0 |
The fact that Manchester City create no big chances against Wolves would have frustrated Haaland.
Every striker in world football is reliant on service.
It seemed like barring a dangerous cross from either Savinho or Jeremy Doku, the Premier League winners lacked many ideas in the final third.
As a result, Haaland was largely marked out of the game and barely took any touches as well as looked like scoring during the clash.
